States face complex challenges in disaster risk reduction: PK Mishra

How do we target our assistance to the most vulnerable he asked.These are complex challenges and countries with a long history of disaster risk mitigation financing are also grappling with them, Mishra said and called for collaboration and learning from each other.The G20 Working Group will meet for the second time next week and they will devote a full day to discuss the issues of financing, Mishra said.I would like to talk about the role of the State in strengthening early warning systems.

The prime minister's Principal Secretary P K Mishra has said at an India-Japan side event at the United Nations in New York that states face complex challenges in disaster risk reduction.

States must evolve a financial architecture that can address the entire spectrum of disaster risk reduction needs in a balanced way. Because, for far too long they have focused almost entirely on financing disaster response, recovery and reconstruction, he said, according to an official statement.

Mishra highlighted the need for financial architecture and strong early warning systems while emphasising the role of states in tackling complex challenges.

Speaking at the event on the roles of states in promoting investments in disaster risk reduction towards a resilient and sustainable future, he said the fact that both G7 and G20 have accorded priority to disaster risk reduction indicates that the issue is now getting attention at the highest level in the global policy discourse.

''Although the Sendai Framework as well as its predecessor, the Hyogo Framework, highlighted the importance of an all-of-society approach to disaster risk reduction, it is clear that states bear the primary responsibility for both stopping the creation of new disaster risks as well as reduction of existing disaster risks,'' Mishra said.

While working on financing disaster risk mitigation and disaster preparedness, states must contend with complex challenges like how to increase the absorptive capacity to effectively utilise resources allocated for disaster risk mitigation.

''What kinds of institutional mechanisms, technical capacities and expertise do we need to develop for it? How are we going to measure outcomes? ''How do we balance risk mitigation financing for extensive risks (that is high frequency, moderate impact events) and intensive risks (that is low frequency, high impact events)? How do we target our assistance to the most vulnerable?'' he asked.

These are complex challenges and countries with a long history of disaster risk mitigation financing are also grappling with them, Mishra said and called for collaboration and learning from each other.

The G20 Working Group will meet for the second time next week and they will devote a full day to discuss the issues of financing, Mishra said.

''I would like to talk about the role of the State in strengthening early warning systems. The notion of public-private partnership has been discussed for a long time in this context.'' Noting that private players have entered the field for strengthening early warning systems and it is likely to get even more crowded as more sector-specific early warning services are developed, he asked what is the absolutely non-negotiable role of the state and can it outsource the observational network to private players.

''To what extent should the State get involved in developing and deploying communication technologies? Should the State mandate private players to compulsorily provide essential early warning services in times of disasters,'' he further asked.

Mishra said these challenges must be contended with if a transformational change in the way disaster risk reduction is pursued has to be brought about. It will also help the state become more effective in our climate change adaptation efforts, he said and thanked the Government of Japan for taking the initiative to curate this event and to invite India to be a partner in this effort.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)